Dear Readers,

 

Dolly here. The dog days of summer have something to do with ancient Romans and Greeks and stars in the sky. I don't know what ancient means, but Romans are great because I like artichokes. I like Greeks because spanakopita is v good and also they call me Koúkla which means Dolly, so they know my real name unlike my parents who sometimes call me Bob (who say the reason doesn't matter and unlike instances when they claim I can't have a cherry or a chocolate or their piece of pizza, I think they might be right). And stars are special because our neighbors named one for Wendy. Every day is a dog day in my world, so I was asked to share my daily routine…

 

Sun's up, New Day, Yay! Run in circles. Follow Dad while he makes coffee (ew) and smoothies (kale and berry opportunity-scraps!). Breakfast time…Dad says I don't have to dance and cry for my food because it has my name on the package and no one desires it besides me, but I don't understand how the second part can be true because it's so delicious. Walk outside to make sure all is in order on the block and now it's time to run at high speed and jump/fly/land on Mom. This is the second part of New Day fun because she gives me naughty things like whipped cream (heaven!), papaya (fleshy and tropical!), or watermelon bites (this is what summer tastes like!) depending on what's available in Refrigerator Market. I wish I could reach the handle. 

 

Mid-morning nap until it's time to trot to shop. Lots of “postcards” to read along the path. I like to keep up on my “correspondence” with friends and neighbors. Landmarks include Karen's Lavender & Rose Garden Corner, Big Red Fire Pole Thing Corner, and many Special Trees. Friends make New Day worth doing. I hear that the 10 minute walk from home to shop takes more like 30 when I come along, but you know what they say, “Life moves pretty fast. If you don't stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it.”

 

Front gates roll up…bark at them…back gate rolls up…bark extra…I sure told those gates. 

 

More friends all day; what a special crew comes through! Ball throwing and ear scratching and tail wagging and lots of music! Biscuits and blackberries and carrots and cucumbers and…celery (Mom says not to worry…just because it sounds the same, I'm not a cannibal).

 

I can't eat grapes (or lick wine, darnit), so I don't know what a Pinotage or a Pelaverga or a Passerina or a Posip is, but since I get my licks where I can, I do know what granite and tiny ripe wild summer strawberry and August peach and the essence of ocean water are all about. That's why I help with recs. 

 

Nap between small counter bed and what Auntie Mabel (<3) calls my fainting couch in back…this is also where I accept visitors when I'm too sleepy to run every time time bell door ding dongs. I believe in “beauty sleep” because I hear that somehow I grow cuter with every nap and cute = snacks, so this es muy important as sensory pleasures (also) make New Day worth doing. 

 

From here it's simple…trot home, eat dinner (apparently it's the same thing as breakfast but it's totally not boring), chew a bone or few, fetch some tiny tennis balls from my vast, colorful collection (the trick is to never appear satisfied with what you have and, magically, more tiny tennis balls will appear), bark through window at passerby five floors below just to make sure all is well, snuggle into circle at foot of bed- prime spot for warming family feet and resting up for New Day. 

 

 

 

100% Saint Laurent with a decade (and a half!) of aging. Harvested from old vines in a single vineyard of Gerhard Markoswitsch's winery in the Caruntum area of Niederosterreich, or “Lower Austria", called lower because of its position from the Enns River, though it actually sits in the northeast corner of the country and enjoys relatively warm temperatures. Vienna was a part of Niederosterreich for a long while until the 1980's when it became its own state. Markoswitsch is primarily a Pinot Noir producer and he brings the experience of working with that variety's gentle touch to his Saint Laurent, though the grape can't help but be itself rather than playing the role of another. Its skin is dark, its fruit is aromatic, its character is the kind of brooding you want to keep company with while solving a few mysteries of the world. It shows iron, clove, and may as well be decked in an all black Yves Saint Laurent number. It takes a while to soften and can use some decanting. Slow down you crazy child - it's well worth the wait.

 

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